Eight African orphans and their caretaker, saved by America from revolutionary violence, arrived unexpectedly in Maine, along with another girl from their group who was being adopted by a Boothbay Harbor family. Her adoptive parents rallied their harbor-town neighbors to sustain the eight unanticipated orphans.

Free motel rooms gave the orphans temporary shelter. Meanwhile, the new owners of a long empty and fire-damaged inn that they had just bought donated it as a living space for the orphans for as long as needed. Crews of hastily gathered neighbors worked day and night to immediately make the inn livable. The crews scrapped the charred casings and beams, painted and cleaned, plumbed and wired, installed kitchen and bathroom fixtures, and fixed whatever was broken. They had one week.

Meanwhile, volunteers drove the orphans to volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists and hygienists. Shots were given, teeth were cleaned and fixed, parasites were treated, and food, clothes, shoes, beds, pillows and blankets were donated.

The orphans and their caretaker moved into the inn wearing clean clothes, shoes, and smiles. Behind their eyes dwelled post-traumatic stress. Around campfires that summer, those stories leaked out. Those stories won’t be told, but a happy ending will.

To be continued…

Let’s Pray: Dear God, "When did we see you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you drink? When were you a stranger and we welcomed you, or nearly naked and clothed you?” Amen.

Here’s a Thought from God: "When you did it to one of the weakest of my people, you did it to me.”